Tenancy Guarantor

[hev]

My husband stood as a guarantor in 2000-2001 for my ex friend on a six month tenancy agreement with a local rental firm. We received a letter yesterday 04/11/2007from the landlord saying that there is an outstanding amount of rent and damages to the amount of approx �4000 owing from last year. After the initial six months was over my ex friend renewed her tenancy and informed my husband that he was no longer required as guarantor he did not sign any further tenancy agreements. As this is over six years ago and we haven't had any contact with this person or her family for over 4 years we did not even know she was at the same address after all this time as she has had a tendency to move a lot in the past is my husband still liable for this after all this time.

[hev]

Many thanks for the advice. I think they may have trouble getting any money though. We are in an IVA with no disposable income. So they will have to join the queue with everyone else.

[themas]

I don't altogether agree with the last answer. Whether he is still a guarantor depends on the nature and wording of the document he signed. If it was just that he was named in the first tenancy agreement as guarantor & signed the agreement as such, then his liability lasted only as long as that agreement was operative (because he has not signed anything since).

However, it is possible that the first tenancy agreement is still operative. At the end of the 6 months the tenant may have entered into a completely new agreement (in which case the guarantee ceases to be effective), OR the tenancy may have become a statutory periodic tenancy - i.e. it continued without any new agreement being signed. In this case the original agreement - and the guarantee - are still valid.

Another possibility is that he did not sign the tenancy agreement but a completely separate guarantee agreement. In this case, the provisions of that agreement will determine whether he is still liable.

All these points need to be checked to determine the position. If he is liable, the IP dealing with the IVA needs to be informed.